Awareness and Emergence: A Gestalt Approach to Global Diversity and Inclusion

Abstract

Abstract During the last forty years, members of the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland have created an organizational development (OD) theory by combining Gestalt psychology with Gestalt therapy. Steeped in humanistic psychology, phenomenology and existentialism, holism, field theory, and systems theory, the resulting Gestalt approach to OD has evolved as a present-centered, awareness-building, and high-impact form of intervention. Aside from its unique approach to interventions, its particular core assumptions have led to developing the Gestalt “consulting stance.” This article will discuss the core of Gestalt theory and the Gestalt consulting stance as it applies to organizational development and to diversity and inclusion. It borrows from the author's global experience—in which nationalities, ethnicities, and cultural differences converge within one organization or joint venture—to illuminate the Gestalt consulting stance (and theory) that supports effective OD interventions and involves issues of diversity and inclusion. Finally, the Gestalt consulting stance is used to examine the impact on diversity of the ever-increasing size of organizations. We will see that the migration from international to global organizations inherently involves greater diversity; those organizations need to be inclusive in order to be effective.